Aizen's Castle
by ghirahim
Summary: When fifteen-year-old Kurosaki Ichigo starts working for the rogue scientist Aizen Sōsuke all hell breaks loose especially when he learns the many unorthodox quirks of his 'castle' and the 'subjects' that inhabit it.
1. Lets Get to Work

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach; insert witty remark here.

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><p>"<em>Hard work is damn near as overrated as monogamy."<br>-Huey P. Long_

Eleven-year-old Kurosaki Karin and her older twin sister, Yuzu, hesitantly walked into their older brother's bedroom watching the fifteen-year-old repeatedly and violently bang his head against his computer desk. "Damn... I always knew aniki was hardheaded but I never meant it in a literal sense."

"H-He looks busy Karin, maybe we shouldn't bother him."

"Busy? He's headdesking Yuzu; besides, we're his little sisters, its our obligatory right to bother him at our convenience." The unconvinced blond frowned. "Oh come on! You're the one that doesn't want us to take the train by ourselves and now you don't want to bother Ichigo? Make up your mind or we're going to miss Unohana-sensei's book signing!"

"I-I don't know..." The blond huffed, "okay fine!" She sighed frowning again. "A-Ask him, a-and if he says no then we'll go by ourselves. Okay?"

Karin nodded. "You'll barely regret this." The black-haired girl walked over to the fifteen-year-old's desk tapping him on the shoulder. The redhead slowly lifted his head turning it toward his sister. "Hey Karin." He looked over his sister's shoulder. "Yuzu..." He glanced back at the black-haired girl, "did you two need something from me?"

Karin took in her brother's disheveled appearance before frowning. "How long have you been sitting here?"

"Hm?" The redhead slowly turned his head in the opposite direction, glanced at the clock, then turned back to his sister. "Yesterday afternoon?"

Groaning, Karin threw her hands in the air in frustration. "You seriously need some fresh air! Summer vacation isn't just for holding yourself up in your room."

"But he has the supplemental lessons—"

"Stay out of this Yuzu!" The black-haired girl unsuccessfully attempted to pull her brother out of his swivel chair. Grunting, she looked over her shoulder at her sister. "Don't just stand there, give me a hand!"

"But you told me to stay out of this!"

"I didn't mean this, I meant... would you just help me!"

"O-Okay!" The blond shuffled over to her sister helping the black-haired girl pull their brother out of his seat. "N-Niichan is heavy!" After a few minutes of failing, the twins finally managed to get Ichigo out of his seat only to have them unceremoniously fall on their asses in the process.

Shaking his head, Ichigo helped up the twins at the same time. "Why didn't you just ask me to get up?"

"Yes Karin, why didn't you ask nii-chan to get up?"

"..." Yuzu frowned at her sister who groaned while dusting herself off. "I didn't think about that, okay? Nobody is perfect!"

Sighing, Ichigo scratched his head plopping back down in his seat. "Now then, what is it that you two want from me?"

The twins exchanged glances before Yuzu nodded. "We need to ride the train to North Rukongai."

"What?" Ichigo nearly jumped out of his seat staring down at his sisters. "Are you two insane? Do you have any idea the kind of place Rukongai is? And North Rukongai to boot?" The eleven-year-olds exchanged similar confused expressions which made the redhead facepalm. "Apparently you don't."

"Well if its as dangerous as you say then I suppose its a good thing we didn't go ourselves Yuzu."

The blond tapped her chin, "guess so."

Sighing, he sank back in his chair. "Alright, I'll bite, why exactly do you need to go halfway across town to the Rukongai district anyway?"

"That's where Unohana-sensei is!" Yuzu exclaimed.

"Unohana... Unohana? Why does that name sound so familiar? Ah! She's that crazy feminist writer you two are fangirling! Right?"

"We are not fangirling!" Karin yelled, "and she's not crazy!"

"She's the best author in the world! Her books are so inspirational and—"

The redhead waved them off, "whatever. I'll take you ...but I'm not going inside that crazy estrogen filled building!"

"Yay~!" The twins cheered hugging one another. "We're going to meet Unohana-sensei!"

"Yeah, yeah. Now get out of my room so I can change clothes."

"Okay nii-chan!" Yuzu yelled dragging Karin out of the room.

—

After a rather unpleasant, forty-five minute train ride Ichigo was about ready to break something. Ichigo didn't like riding the train by nature, but sometimes it was the only way to travel, regardless this was by far the worst train ride in his fifteen years of existence. As the train was the only way to get to Rukongai hundreds of other obsessive, potentially brainwashed Unohana fans – and not the most sane ones either – stocked the train to the brink. While the train station near the Kurosaki house wasn't one of the first stops it was still a good deal away from Rukongai so the siblings managed to grab some seats before the chaos erupted. The insane swarm of fans cooed and screeched the entire time, physically getting more amped with every descending stop. A fist fight actually broke out over which one of Unohana's books were better! Needless to say Ichigo, who was probably the only non fan of Unohana's work, developed one hell of a migraine.

When the train ride was over the swarm pushed and shoved their way to the bookstore. Ichigo was surprised he managed to hold onto Yuzu and Karin while the sheer momentum of the crowd led them in front of the bookstore known as Rukongai Books & Things.

Ichigo sighed finding himself being led inside. He didn't have the strength to argue with his sisters. Dozens of women, and a good amount of men, were already standing on line clutching to their books as if their lives depended on it.

Karin and Yuzu looked up at the teen. "Its a big bookstore nii-chan, where will we find you when we're done?"

Sighing, Ichigo slowly looked down at his sisters who each had a hand in their possession. "I... don't... know..."

Yuzu elbowed her sister, "he's really out of it Karin, what should we do?" She whispered.

"I say we go on line." Karin whispered back ignoring Yuzu's frown. "Aniki's a big boy, he'll be fine."

"Just go, I'll follow the screams to find you." The twins nodded almost immediately detaching themselves from Ichigo and charged the massive line.

Ichigo sighed aimlessly walking away from the line. The redhead couldn't begin to fathom how anyone, man or woman – apparently of all ages, would eat up that crappy romantic shit! He couldn't even make it past the first paragraph when Karin gave him one of her many books to read on the train in order to calm him down. Of course that only served to agitate him further. His brain literally felt like it was oozing out of his ears!

The fifteen-year-old's feet subconsciously took him to the manga section of the bookstore. It was no where near as big as their romance section but it was decent. Besides, if he was going to be stuck here might as well get in some reading. After cruising the shelves for about ten minutes Ichigo found a manga that interested him way up on the top shelf. The section might not have been big but it sure as hell was tall.

As the redhead reached for the manga in question another hand appeared out of nowhere grabbing it at the same time he did. Ever so slowly the two pairs of brown eyes locked onto one another.

Ichigo started at the pair of brown eyes behind the clear frames and the bespectacled brunet, possibly in his late twenties or early thirties, smiled at the teen.

"It appears that we are both interested in the same book ...and this is the only remaining copy." Chuckling to himself, the man retracted his hand. "I concede, the manga belongs to you."

"Uh... thanks?" Ichigo glanced at the strange man through his peripheral vision as he took the manga. "But, I'm not really interested in buying it; I was just going to read it while I waited for my sisters."

"Ah, I take it they are on line for Unohana-sensei?" Ichigo nodded then the man extended his hand. "Aizen Sōsuke."

"Kurosaki Ichigo." They shook hands.

"Well, Kurosaki-kun, if you're not interested in buying it may I?" Ichigo shrugged handing the manga to the brunet. "Oh no, take your time. You see, I'm in no rush. I have someone on line as well."

"O-Okay." Ichigo sat in one of the lounge chairs in the manga section and started to read while skeptically glancing a the strange man that gathered several other manga from the shelves. Aizen didn't particularly seem like someone who would read manga, especially with the lab coat he was donned in, but most of the men in his age group were usually closeted ...yet the bespectacled brunet had no qualms purchasing manga in a busy establishment in broad daylight so perhaps the manga in question weren't for him. Either that or he was an open otaku.

The brunet did mention having someone on line for Unohana so the manga could be for that person. But Ichigo didn't make it a habit of judging a book by its over. Besides, the manga Aizen wanted was that of the science fiction, albeit humor, variety so its pretty ironic a man wearing a lab coat would read a science-esque manga.

Several minutes passed before Ichigo was officially bored out of his mind; not that the fifteen-year-old expected to be fully entertained when screeched could be heard from all directions further fueling his massive migraine. Surprisingly, that wasn't the redhead's biggest problem at the moment – the manga enthusiasts were swarming the bookstore and Aizen had somehow disappeared when Ichigo finished reading the manga the brunet was interested in buying.

Ichigo couldn't possibly put the manga back on the shelf after he promised it (sort of) to Aizen, especially since the blond around the corner was staring intently at the manga in his hands, and Ichigo didn't feel like shelling out cash to pay for it himself.

Just as he was about to get up and search for Aizen his sisters appeared happily holding up their autographed novels. "Unohana-sensei is the absolute best~!" They sighed contently.

"Yeah... I bet she is. So that means you two are ready to go, right?"

The girls nodded enthusiastically. "Oh..." Karin began, "are you going to buy that?"

"Hm?" Ichigo looked down at the manga in his hand. "No, I need to do something first ...stay where I can see you." The twins exchanged questionable glances before their brother ran off.

"Where do you think nii-chan is going Karin?"

"I don't know, but we're about to find out."

"But Ichigo said to stay where he could see us!"

"Which means we'll have to go closer. Duh." Karin grabbed Yuzu by the hand dragging her off in the direction Ichigo ran in. "And you're supposed to be the smarter one?"

The twins peered from around a random bookshelf spotting their brother talking to some bespectacled brunet. They chatted aimlessly for a few minutes before Ichigo gave the manga he was holding earlier, more aimless chatting ensued before they went their separate ways.

When Ichigo returned to the manga section Karin and Yuzu were seated in the parallel lounge chairs each reading a shōjo manga. "Okay, I'm done."

The twins slowly pulled the manga down from their faces to stare at the redhead who stared back. "What?"

"Who was that man you were talking to?" Karin, surprisingly, blurted out.

Ichigo scowled. "It felt like I was being watched." He sighed, "just some guy that grabbed the same manga I did earlier, I wasn't going to buy it so he said he would when I finished reading it."

Frowning, the twins exchanged questionable glances before pulling their manga back to eye-level.

"Are you two doing that twin telepathy thing again?" Yuzu lowered the manga for a second to shake her head before returning the book to its previous position. "Then lets get the hell out of here."

"Oh!" Yuzu slid off the chair, "while we're out we might as well pick up a few things for dinner."

Sighing, Karin slid off her chair as well. "I just had a feeling you'd say something like that." As the siblings were leaving the bookstore, through a less crowded exit, Ichigo looked down nearly stepping on a wallet. While he was looking down his sisters peered over his shoulders.

"That's a pretty expensive looking wallet." Yuzu remarked tip-toeing a bit higher.

Karin frowned tip-toeing and pulling her brother's shoulder down to get a better look. "You're not going to report this are you?"

Scowling, Ichigo looked between his sisters then back at the wallet. "Of course I am."

Karin sighed shaking her head. "It amazes me how selfless you are sometimes..."

"Be careful nii-chan, that wallet could belong to some child-trapping pedophile!" Ichigo rose an eyebrow.

"Am I going to have to switch reading material for you Yuzu?"

The blond shook her head waving her arms frantically. "No, no, no. That won't be necessary." When the redhead wordlessly opened the wallet his sisters snatched it from him.

"Huh..." Karin handed the wallet to her sister. "It belongs to the manga guy... how ironic."

"Aizen Sōsuke? A thirty-year-old donor. His address is in the Hueco Mundo district." Ichigo snatched the wallet back. "That was really rude nii-chan!" The blond huffed.

"Hueco Mundo?" Karin scowled. "I've never heard of it."

Yuzu tapped her chin. "Neither have I."

"I have." Ichigo sighed, "come on. Let's go home."

"I thought you said you were going to return the wallet?"

"I'll do it after school tomorrow." The twins exchanged glances as Ichigo started walking off.

—

While there was still three weeks left for summer break, Ichigo – unfortunately – had been enrolled in two weeks of summer supplemental lessons; it was mainly because his best friend, Uryū, was a major nerd and didn't want to take them alone. Not that the bespectacled black-haired teen actually needed extra help since he was the number one ranked student in their grade; Ichigo didn't do so bad being ranked at number four. But still, Uryū was one of those people that had to be doing something along the lines of learning or he'd go crazy and take everyone else with him; and it was either the supplemental lessons or enroll in a dancing class – and Ichigo was having none of the latter.

Fortunately, the supplemental lessons only lasted for a few hours so it was noon when Ichigo found himself standing at the train station heading toward the Hueco Mundo district.

The Hueco Mundo district wasn't as dangerous as Rukongai (mainly North Rukongai) but it was rumored to harbor a few dozen semi-harmless crazies on a regular basis ...fortunately Ichigo prided himself on being the type of person not to listen to strange rumors; not to mention the redhead was a first-degree black belt so he could kick some weirdo ass if the need should arise. Nevertheless, the fifteen-year-old couldn't shake the odd feeling that something big was about to go down. Unavoidable ass kicking or not.

A surprisingly empty, grope-free train ride later, the redhead wandered the equally empty streets of the Hueco Mundo district until he stood in front of a ratty, rather ancient looking house with the same address as the one listed on Aizen's I.D.

"Cero... Las Noches Avenida?" Ichigo wondered aloud as he suppressed his increasing uneasiness and rang the doorbell.

When the bell was met with silence, the redhead frowned and just as he was about to ring the doorbell again a flustered, kimono wearing black-haired person swung the door open. "Oh!" The being examining him had a fairly androgynous appearance but if the kimono hanging off the pale shoulders was any indication this person with the black hair was indeed female. "Well, you're not wearing a suit like the last guy so just who might you be?"

"My name is Kurosaki Ichigo." The fifteen-year-old rummaged through his backpack taking out Aizen's wallet. "Yesterday at Rukongai Books a man named Aizen Sōsuke dropped this—"

"And you're here to return it?" The girl asked incredulously and Ichigo nodded. "I see..." She smirked. "Surely you must have looked through it to find out his home address."

"Yes, but I saw his address as soon as I opened it so I didn't look any further."

The girl frowned scratching her head. "Well. I'm actually on my way out right now so you can just leave it inside wherever, but if you want to give it to him in person – which I'm pretty damn sure you will – he's in the third room on the right of the second hallway to the left. Understand?"

Ichigo nodded. "I do."

"Good. Oh, by the way, my name is Tatsuki should anyone ask who let you in. You see Aizen-san is a pretty private guy but I'm sure you'll find that out soon." Giving the redhead the two-fingered salute Tatsuki stepped out of the doorway, allowing Ichigo to enter, before disappearing.

Once inside Ichigo's jaw dropped. Looks truly were deceiving; the house, if it could be called that, was definitely better looking on the inside than the outside and it was a hell of a lot bigger.

"Ne, Tatsuki-nee!"

As Ichigo turned the corner two girls, one with blue-green hair and the other with pink hair, bumped into him falling on their asses. Looking down, the redhead easily picked up the two girls with one hand. The shorter, blue-green haired, girl looked up pointing at the redhead. "Who the hell are you?" The fifteen-year-old's right eyebrow twitched.

This girl had to be half the age of Karin and Yuzu and even they didn't swear so easily... well at least Yuzu didn't. "My name is Ichigo."

"Ichigo, hm? Then its Ic-chin!" The pink-haired girl said nodding. "I'm Yachiru and this is Nelliel but we call her Nel. What brings ya to the castle Ic-chin?"

"Castle?" Ichigo shook his head. "I'm just returning Aizen-san's wallet; he dropped it at the bookstore yesterday."

"Ah. But if ya looking for Aizen-sama where the hell is he?" Nel frowned, "its kinda fucking rude to leave a guest wandering about."

"A-Actually, I didn't see him yet. Tatsuki-san told me to come in."

"Tatsuki-nee did?" Ichigo nodded and Yachiru glanced at Nel who shrugged. "Well, why don't we show you around before taking you to Aizen-sama?"

"I don't know..."

"Sure!" Nel replied slapping Ichigo on the back making him wince. That little girl was definitely a lot stronger than she looked. "Besides, Aizen-sama don't like being disturbed when he's working."

Ichigo sighed, "sure... show me around." There was no way he could resist their cuteness, they sort of reminded him of his little sisters a few years ago – even yesterday they still seemed like cute little kids dragging him all over the bookstore.

"Yay!" The girls cheered each grabbing one of Ichigo's hands dragging him forward. So the redhead followed his direction-less, attention deficit, navigators through the many halls of the 'castle' for a good fifteen minutes before they stopped suddenly. "Hana-tan!" They screamed.

A giant black fuzzy ear poked out from the doorway and twitched slightly. Slowly, the rest of the face slid out from behind the doorway revealing a nervous looking black-haired boy who seemed even cuter with the twitching ears atop his head. If Ichigo had to guess he'd say they were either fox or cat ears.

"Ic-chin..." Yachiru announced. "This is Hanatarō or Hana-tan for short." Hanatarō bowed swiftly, his fluffy tail adorably swaying from side to side. "Hana-tan this is our new aniki Ichigo; we're giving him a tour of the castle."

Hanatarō bowed again. "N-Nice meeting you Ichigo-san."

"Likewise."

"U-Uh, d-does Aizen-san know about this?"

The two girls exchanged seemingly innocent glances. "Of course he does." Hanatarō's ears twitched adorably again and Ichigo resisted the strong urge to touch them.

"Ooh! I just got an idea~!" Nel cheered jumping on Hanatarō's head. "Forward march Hana-tan!" The black-haired boy shakily walked forward while Nel steered with his ears.

Ichigo blinked at the display before him. "Uh, is he going to be alright?"

"Don't worry about it Ic-chin, Hana's like ...what do they call him? Ah! Our glutton for punishment, a proverbial punching bag of sorts!"

Ichigo sighed, feeling incredibly sorry for the poor guy. "I see..."

"What are you two doing?" Yachiru and Nel glanced wide-eyed at a now bespectacled Aizen sighing and scratching his head.

"We were keeping Ic-chin company while you worked!"

"Ic-chin?" The brunet adjusted his glasses. "It appears I am indebted to you once again, Kurosaki-kun."

"N-Not at all. It was kind of fun hanging out with them."

Aizen rose an eyebrow, "was it really?" Ichigo nodded. "Interesting... come with me Kurosaki-kun. Nel get off of Hanatarō-kun." Pouting, the blue-green haired girl complied sliding off of Hanatarō then standing next to Yachiru. "Hinamori was looking for you two."

The girls groaned. "She's so boring!"

Aizen glanced at them and they pouted before walking off. "Hanatarō-kun, are you unharmed?" The boy nodded slowly. "Good. Come along then." Hanatarō nodded again following Aizen and Ichigo to a pair of double doors.

Once inside, Aizen sat in the swivel chair motioning Ichigo and Hanatarō to sit in front of him. "I must say I am impressed Kurosaki-kun. Not many creatures can handle Nelliel and Yachiru, especially when they are together, yet you've managed to do so not only unharmed but quite easily I dare say its remarkable. But I suppose that is because you have practice with your little sisters, right?" Ichigo nodded wordlessly. "So I have a proposition for you and I needed a witness." He glanced over to Hanatarō who's ears twitched accordingly.

"A proposition?"

Aizen nodded. "You see I'm constantly busy around the place and am in dire need of assistance so I'm prepared to hire you as, well, my assistant."

"Assistant? Isn't that a little vague?"

Aizen chuckled startling Hanatarō. "It is what it is, but its just a general term; in addition to helping me out here I'd like for you to watch the girls when I can't be disturbed."

"I see. I-I guess I wouldn't mind then, but I go back to school in a month so—"

"That's not a problem, I'm not asking you to become a live-in or anything and when you start school naturally your hours and workload will decrease." Ichigo internally sighed. He was just talking to Uryū about looking for a job this morning and here one appeared out of nowhere so...

The redhead nodded. "I'll do it."

The bespectacled man stood and approached Ichigo extending his hand. "It appears I'll be depending on you a lot from now on." Ichigo hesitantly took the offered arm shaking it. "Glad to have you aboard, right Hanatarō-kun?" The boy in question nodded timidly.

—

"You got a job working for Glasses-san?" Yuzu asked clearing the dishes from the table.

Ichigo sighed, "I already told you that isn't his name."

Karin propped her hand against her chin, "and that's about the only thing you told us." Ichigo glared at the seemingly unfazed black-haired girl, "and you technically didn't tell us that because we saw it on the driver's license."

"She's right you know." Yuzu piped in, "you haven't told us where you'll be working, or what you'll do, or how you'll even get there!"

"Look. I don't know all the details yet, but Aizen-san basically said I'd be his assistant."

"You don't know all the details? This whole 'job' thing sounds pretty sketchy to me." Grunting, the redhead stood grabbing his backpack from behind his chair.

"I'm heading out." The twins exchanged glances as their brother left the house.

"Should we follow him?"

Karin smirked, "naturally."

"Oh wait! Remember he has supplemental lessons with Ishida-kun, what are we going to do for three hours?"

Karin grabbed her twin, "we'll think of something!"

Three hours seemed like forever for the eleven-year-old pair but they managed to get through it – despite nearly blowing their cover twice. Ichigo parted ways with his bespectacled classmate and headed toward the train station oblivious to his sisters tailing him.

"Karin, he'll see us if we get on the train together!" Yuzu whispered.

The black-haired girl frowned, "then we'll get on a different cart."

"Then how would we know when he leaves?" Karin facepalmed, then dragged her twin along. Fortunately there were enough people to provide them with adequate cover, yet not enough to lose sight of their brother. As Ichigo got off his sisters got off, hiding or ducking around any available surface whenever the redhead turned around.

It wasn't until they reached Ichigo's supposed place of employment that Yuzu's cell started ringing. Karin snatched said phone out of her sister's bag then ignored the call in favor of being caught, however Ichigo had already stepped inside so he didn't hear them.

Sighing, Karin returned the phone to her sister. "Close call."

"A little too close." Karin and Yuzu didn't even have time to move before their vision blacked out.

—

Ichigo barely had time to look around before Yachiru jumped into his arms. "You're back Ic-chin!" She wrapped her tiny arms around his neck nuzzling their faces together. "Hinamori said we scared you away but I knew you'd be back!"

Tatsuki sighed shaking her head, "you're quite the ladies' man Kurosaki-san." Ichigo sighed, "These two wouldn't shut up about how wonderful you are." The black-haired girl blinked. "Two...?" Frowning Tatsuki looked around noticing the lack of blue-green. "Wait a minute... Nel! Your aniki is here!"

After a few seconds the familiar clump of blue-green hair appeared from behind the corner. "Yo Ic-chin!" She greeted nonchalantly walking over to the redhead. "I sensed your qi but I had to see what the big fuss was at entrada número tres."

Tatsuki sighed, "one language at a time Nel."

"Huh? Oh!" The blue-green haired girl scratched her head. "Sorry 'bout that. I meant entrance number three."

Yachiru looked down at her shorter companion frowning, "so... what big fuss? I didn't hear anything."

"You didn't?" Yachiru shook her head.

"Ul-chan caught some intruders!"

Yachiru gasped. "Really? But no one is dumb enough to come here unprotected!" Tatsuki cleared her throat jerking her thumb in Ichigo's direction. The pink-haired girl blushed. "N-Not that I think you're dumb or anything Ic-chin!"

"Me either." Nel replied climbing onto Ichigo's back. "But your qi is pretty odd."

With confusion evident on the redhead's face Tatsuki sighed. "I think I need to clear a few things up for your uh... Ic-chin, so check out the situation for me and I promise we'll be done by then."

Nel slid off Ichigo's back and Yachiru jumped out of his arms. "Aye aye Mon Capitan!" They saluted marching away.

"Let's go."

Ichigo walked beside Tatsuki down the opposite end of the 'castle' where the girls headed. "So... is this place really that dangerous?"

"Not dangerous... per se, but I suppose any place could be considered dangerous if you lack awareness." Tatsuki sighed not bothering to look at Ichigo to know he wasn't following. "Listen. I'm sure Aizen-sama wanted to tell you this himself but I think its best for everyone if you caught on as quickly as possible. Twelve years ago Aizen-sama was banished from the International Scientist Association because his experiments were – how should I put this? – less than moral. So he basically had nothing to lose, a little while later he found this place and started working on his own experiments without the ISA's help or permission."

"So what you're trying to tell me is that Aizen-san is a rogue scientist and all of you are his illegal experiments?"

"Not all of us, and I wouldn't necessarily say 'illegal.'"

"I see... sort of."

Tatsuki clapped her hands together, "now that we cleared up any confusion lets see the commotion."

"But I thought you told Nel and Yachiru to take care of it?"

"Please, what could a couple of attention deficit children do?"

—

"Karin...?"

"Hm?"

"W-Where are we?" A bright light shone in Yuzu's face revealing a bespectacled brunet. "Ah! Its Glasses-san! From Rukongai!"

"Huh?" Karin attempted to turn around but her bindings prevented any sort of movement. "Oi! Why are we tied up?"

"Well, my dear, you were trespassing on private property." Aizen removed his glasses and crouched down to Karin's level. "That scowl on your face is incredibly familiar..."

"Our brother works for you, w-we were just checking out the place. We didn't mean to trespass." Yuzu shrieked.

"Brother? Ah, so you are Kurosaki-kun's siblings." Aizen tapped his chin, "Ulquiorra, release the girls." A flash cut the bindings from the chair freeing the girls. "I apologize but you can never be too careful nowadays. Allow me to introduce myself I am Aizen Sōsuke owner of this house."

"I-I'm Kurosaki Yuzu and this is my twin sister Karin."

"How cute, they're all named after fruit~" Aizen looked down at the bespectacled black-haired woman holding a clipboard. She cleared her throat then averted her gaze.

"Hinamori." The girl straightened up immediately. "Why don't we treat our guests to a meal to compensate them for their troubles?"

"O-Of course Aizen-sama!" She bowed then scurried out of the room.

"Follow me ladies." Yuzu and Karin exchanged glances, nodded to one another, then followed Aizen out of the room.

—

"Karin? Yuzu?" The two eleven-year-olds paused in eating their snacks to look up at their older brother.

"Hey aniki!" They greeted then went back to eating as if nothing happened.

"Aniki?" Yachiru appeared popping up on Ichigo's left shoulder while Nelliel popped up on the right. "Ic-chin is _our_ aniki."

Yuzu dropped the fork in her hand. "Who are they nii-chan?"

"I'm Nel and she's 'Chiru. More importantly, who are you?"

"We're Ichigo's sisters Karin and Yuzu, what do you mean he's your aniki?"

Yachiru turned to the redhead. "Ic-chin you have more sisters?" Sighing, the teen nodded. "Do you live with them?"

"Hello!" Everyone turned to Karin. "Are you some kind of babysitter Ichigo? Why do you have those kids on your shoulders?"

An arm wove itself onto Ichigo's shoulder. "Your big brother is quite the ladies man." Tatsuki removed her arm taking a step forward. "I'm Tatsuki, nice meeting both of you." Blushing, the two eleven-year-olds nodded their greeting.

The black-haired girl rotated her shoulder hoisting up the oversized one shoulder sweater she was wearing. "This is your first day working here so I doubt you'd wanna leave now, yet I'm sure a chivalrous guy like yourself wouldn't want to let his little sisters ride the train by themselves so mind if I take them home?"

Ichigo blinked. "Uh, okay."

"No fair!" Yachiru yelled pointing the black-haired girl. "You just want to leave the premises again Tatsuki-nee!"

"Don't be silly Yachiru-chan, I know we're not allowed to leave without Aizen-san's permission." Ichigo's eyebrows furrowed. When he first met Tatsuki yesterday she had been on her way out and she said Aizen was in his office so there was no way he could have known. Tatsuki seemed to sense what Ichigo was thinking so she walked over to his sisters putting an arm around each of them.

"Lets go."


	2. The Castle and the Errand Boys

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach; insert witty remark here.

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><p>"<em>The more I want to get something done, the less I call it work."<br>-Richard Bach_

Ichigo weightlessly flopped into his bed. Not including his initial hiring, it had been two hectic days since he began working for Aizen. Like the brunet stated Yachiru and Nelliel were a handful, however they were still fun to be around especially when they conned their housemates into doing the most ridiculous things imaginable. On the subject of housemates, according to the owner there was a total of nineteen 'people' living amongst the castle walls; eight of them Ichigo had yet to meet.

Not that Ichigo was particularly thrilled to meet the rest of the crew since Aizen neglected to mention – during the interview – that the fifteen-year-old was responsible for all of them. Well, all of them minus Aizen and his doe-eyed doormat assistant Hinamori who wasn't included in the list of nineteen.

"Aniki!" Yuzu sing-songed. "Ishida-kun is on the phone!"

Sighing, Ichigo slowly sat up and reached over to the phone. "I got it." He picked up the phone and once he heard it click signaling his sister had hung up he heard Uryū's voice.

"Ichigo, what's this I hear about you finding a job?"

"Who told you?"

"I believe she said her name was Tatsuki-san." Ichigo facepalmed. "When I came over two days ago to see if you wanted to see a movie she was at your house playing with your sisters; before I could even ask where you were she told me you were at her house working but she didn't delve further into the subject."

"I was going to tell you when I truly understood exactly what I was doing." He heard Uryū groan. "Believe me, this job is really weird."

"Too weird to help your best friend out?"

"Oh no. I doubt you'd want to work there man, but if that's what you want I'll ask Aizen-san if there's room for one more."

The next day after supplemental lessons Ichigo had made his way to the Hueco Mundo district with Uryū. The bespectacled teen wouldn't take no for an answer when Ichigo said he would talk to Aizen himself, but the bespectacled teen claimed that he would rather ask Aizen for employment since Ichigo had this way of mucking up words.

During his second day of employment Ichigo had been given a key so he let himself into the castle. As usual both Yachiru and Nelliel happily jumped into his arms pausing to look at his companion.

"Who's the pencil guy four-eyes?" Yachiru asked pointing at the black-haired girl.

"Y-Yachiru-chan, N-Nelliel-chan." The two girls turned toward Hinamori. "A-Aizen-sama requests your presence." She glanced at Ichigo bowing. "N-Nice seeing you again Kurosaki-san."

"Bye Ic-chin!" The two girls waved walking off behind Hinamori.

"You always were popular with kids Ichigo."

The redhead sighed. "Come on, we need to talk to Aizen-san before anything else happens."

"But that girl said he was busy."

"Which is why I said we should go now."

Being a fast learner, Ichigo had learned all the important locations in the castle so he managed to make it to the lab before Hinamori could.

"You are quite the punctual employee Kurosaki-kun." Aizen adjusted his glasses looking at Uryū. "And I see you brought a guest."

"Yeah..." Ichigo's gaped as Uryū took a step forward.

"I apologize for showing up on such short notice. I'm Ishida Uryū, Ichigo's classmate and close friend. I'd rather not beat around the bush so I was wondering if there was some way I might be considered for employment here?"

"Oh, you want to work with Kurosaki-kun?" Uryū nodded. "I'm sure he could use a hand. Lets give you a trial run Ishida-kun, if you manage to make it through the day unscathed the job is yours." The bespectacled teen nodded. "Wonderful. Now I believe Hinamori should be on her way with the girls."

Nodding, the teens exited the lab in time to see Yachiru, Nelliel, and Hinamori walk inside.

"That wasn't so hard." Ichigo facepalmed. "Don't just stand there Ichigo, show me what I have to do to keep the job. The sooner I can get a feel for things the faster I can move out of Ryūken's house and live on my own."

Ichigo sighed, "of course. I don't know why I'm surprised to hear you say that."

"I hope Aizen-san doesn't plan on having you work everyday." The two teens turned toward the black-haired girl rounding the corner. "But then again, with Nel and Yachiru so attached to you I'm not sure he'll ever let you leave." She paused to look at Uryū and Ichigo sighed.

"Tatsuki-san, this is Uryū. Uryū this is Tatsuki."

"Another victim?" Tatsuki slowly walked over to the bespectacled teen inspecting him fully. Once she reached his face she smirked then pinched his blushing cheeks. "This one is pretty cute Ic-hi-go, I don't think I'll give him to the girls."

"Kurosaki."

Tatsuki released the bespectacled teen's slightly reddening face as Ulquiorra approached the group. "What's on the agenda today?"

The green-eyed teen glanced at Tatsuki before turning back to Ichigo. "Kurosaki today you and your..." He looked Uryū up and down, "associate are to clean the cages." Without waiting for a response the black-haired male made and about face and walked off the way he came.

"I see he's as social as ever." Tatsuki sighed, "you know where the cages are, right?"

Wide-eyed, Ichigo shook his head. There were very few places that Aizen deemed as off-limits, like the second and third labs for instance, but he never heard of any cages! He knew Aizen was a scientist with subjects that were teetering off the boundaries of ethics but what sort of creature would he keep in a cage?

Tatsuki had become a tour guide of sorts for Ichigo over the past two days. She had taken Ichigo everywhere he needed to be for work and since Yachiru and Nelliel liked her they happily followed along too; Tatsuki seemed to be one of the few beings the girls didn't find boring nor did they try to con her or scare her off.

Tatsuki stated she was the fourth 'experiment' Aizen worked on; the three before her were Ulquiorra, Nelliel, and Yachiru – respectively. Unfortunately, Tatsuki never specified what Aizen experimented on her or why. Nevertheless, she appeared to be a normal human teenager with no genetic or obvious abnormalities so it was easy for her to blend in and out of normalcy making it easy for her to leave the castle unlike some of the other inhabitants.

The three teens headed down three flights of stairs to the sub-basement. "Here we are~! The cages." Tatsuki bowed before going back up the stairs. "Good luck!"

Ichigo and Uryū watched Tatsuki go before they turned to one another. "Might as well get this over with." Nodding to one another, they opened the door together and stepped inside.

The sub-basement seemed like one of those stereotypical locations in a horror movie when something just lunged out of the darkness and attacked the smart guy while he was figuring out what was going on. Ichigo stared at Uryū walking close to him to make sure nothing spontaneously grabbed him.

The two teens walked further into the poorly lit sub-basement until Uryū shrieked leaping at least ten feet in the air landing in Ichigo's arms. "W-What the hell happened?"

The bespectacled teen pointed to a cage on his right, "s-something just touched my leg."

Groaning, Ichigo dropped his best friend then stomped toward the cage. "Oh! I almost forgot." The redhead instinctively caught the flashlight Tatsuki threw at him. He heard the girl walk back up the stairs and he turned on the flashlight pointing at the cage that attacked Uryū.

Seated in the cage was a very naked female with cat ears and a tail. Ichigo quickly shut off the flashlight hiding his blush. He heard some shuffling and took a step back. "Don't be shy..." Despite the horrible lighting he saw the tanned hand reach out from behind the cage. "Babysitter-kun."

The redhead flinched then immediately relaxed as he felt Uryū leaning against him. Sighing, he put the flashlight back on pointing it above the hand so that he didn't see anything he shouldn't have. "I see Sōsuke's tastes have changed dramatically. He usually goes for the stoic, mad scientist types but they never really last very long."

The woman stood and Ichigo shut the light off again. "Dammit Ichigo, stop doing that its hard enough to see here!"

"L-Look she's naked Uryū, what do you want me to do?"

Muttering under his breath, Uryū snatched the flashlight – ignoring Ichigo's protests – and shone the light on the now semi-dressed woman. Both boys sighed in relief. Uryū might not have been as prude as Ichigo but he wasn't all that comfortable seeing a fully naked older woman either.

Tanned arms reached forward grabbing Uryū's unsuspecting left arm forcibly pulling him toward the cage. Once the bespectacled teen's face was pressed against the cool metal bars the woman licked the part of his face not covered by the bars.

Ichigo tried to free his best friend but was batted away easily by the woman's other hand. "You'll get your turn." She grabbed Uryū impossibly closer with her other hand fondling his ass through the outside of the bars, her other hand soon joined the first rhythmically massaging the jean clad globes.

A bright light shone on the woman making her pause her ministrations to shield her eyes. "Yoruichi-san, I would advice against you fraternizing with these two." A black-haired woman walked further into the sub-basement confronting the pouting purple-haired woman. "Do you know how many assistants quit because of your sexual harassment claims?"

"Aw lighten up Suì-chan."

The newcomer glanced at Ichigo protectively holding a blushing, panting Uryū. "Kurosaki-kun I apologize on behalf of Yoruichi-san. She tends to get a bit ...handsy around the help." Sighing she glared at the purple-haired woman who shrugged nonchalantly. "I am Suì-Fēng." She bowed. "Ulquiorra-kun has informed me that you were assigned to clean the cages so I came to offer my assistance."

"Thank you." Ichigo bowed.

"My pleasure." Suì-Fēng took a collar out of her pocket and clamped it on Yoruichi's neck; she then opened the cage pulled Yoruichi out then shut the cage. "Come along Yoruichi-san, lets leave the boys to their work."

"I'll be back for you Glasses-kun!" Ichigo blinked as Suì-Fēng forcibly pulled Yoruichi along. "Oh and watch out for Grimmjow!"

Ichigo sighed. Once the two women disappeared Ichigo looked down at his slightly shaking best friend. "Are you alright Uryū?"

The bespectacled teen nodded straightening himself out. "Y-Yeah."

"Hey look." Ichigo shone the light back on Yoruichi's cage. A blond was asleep on the floor with a pipe hanging precariously out of his mouth, a thin blanket was draped across his seemingly naked body.

"Why don't we start with a different cage Ichigo?"

"I agree." They moved down to the next, thankfully empty, cage and cleaned it with ease. The next two cages on the left side were empty as well so clean up was essentially easy. With three out of the four cages sparkly clean the teens now stood in front of the cage at the end of the hall, in the center of the hallway unlike the other eight that were on the sides. The other cages were big, but this one was about the size of two cages.

Interestingly enough, there were two creatures inside the double sized cage but Ichigo and Uryū could only make out the silhouettes. Uryū carefully pointed the flashlight at the center of the cage where the silhouettes sat. A giant blue ball of fur was curled up against a smaller black ball of fur; they appeared to be spooning although neither teen could determine where the fur began or ended.

"We should probably go to the next cage." Uryū whispered and Ichigo nodded in agreement. After dealing with that oversexed catgirl Uryū had no desire to deal with any of the other creatures inside of these cages. He might not have known why but they were probably in cages for very good reasons.

The cage on the right of the center cage seemed to be occupied as well. However Uryū couldn't see anything more than a trail of red hair coming out of the darkness. "Ichigo." He hissed, "I need the flashlight."

"Uh-huh." The redhead grunted still staring at the creatures in the center cage. He held out the still on flashlight and Uryū sighed before taking it from him.

Once the redhead was genuinely interested about something he had to find out all there was to find out or he'd go insane.

Shaking his head Uryū turned back to the cage and blinked. The hair was connected to a head with even more red hair, the body was hidden underneath a thick blanket and facing the wall so Uryū couldn't see the face.

Shrugging, he started walking off to the next cage dragging Ichigo with him. The next three cages were empty so the teens got to work cleaning them. Now the only unclean cages were the occupied ones.

After mulling it over, they decided to clean Yoruichi's cage while it was still empty minus the sleeping blond. Unfortunately their timing was off because Suì-Fēng returned with the purple-haired cat mid cleaning. Yoruichi's ears and tail twitched excitedly at the sight of Uryū. "Did you two give Grimmy a taste?"

Uryū hid behind Ichigo who rose an eyebrow. "Grimmy?"

"Yeah. Grimmjow." She pointed at the cage in the center. "Giant blue jaguar looms protectively over Hanatarō-kun, don't tell me he's not there!"

Ichigo turned toward the cage. That tiny ball of fur was Hanatarō? Ichigo had only seen the adorable, still unidentifiable, creature when Aizen had hired him.

Yoruichi huffed then Suì-Fēng tugged on her collar. "Grimmjow is still in his cage Yoruichi-san, control yourself."

They finished cleaning, which took a lot longer because Yoruichi would use every available opportunity to grope Uryū and occasionally Ichigo. By the time the cage was immaculate both teens were blushing furiously scrambling away from the cat. "Next bath time you should join me Glasses-kun~" She purred. "You two Babysitter-kun."

Blushing impossibly brighter, Ichigo pushed Uryū out of the sub-basement and up the three flights of stairs to the main floor.

Suì-Fēng sighed. "You really shouldn't tease them Yoruichi-san."

"Jealous Suì-chan?" Yoruichi affectionately rubbed their faces together relieved when she got a sigh out of the other woman. "You can't tell me Glasses-kun isn't adorable and his ass fit perfectly in my hands." Yoruichi wiped the drool forming from her mouth.

Suì-Fēng tugged the collar again. "Fraternizing is strictly prohibited. Or do you want another punishment?"

Yoruichi licked her lips, "as kinky as always Suì-chan." Her tail wagged and the black-haired woman facepalmed.

"Can't you two keep quiet?" The blond yawned rolling toward Yoruichi causing the blanket to fall off revealing his nakedness to the two women.

"Quiet Kisuke!" Yoruichi kicked him. Suì-Fēng used the opportunity to take the collar off Yoruichi then escape the cage closing it after her. Wide-eyed Yoruichi turned toward her caretaker. "Not fair!"

"Sorry Yoruichi-san, same time tomorrow. Good night Kisuke-san." The blond nodded to Suì-Fēng as she left.

"Night Suì-san." Kisuke sat up fully looking around. "Who cleaned up?"

"Aizen hired some fresh meat."

"Oh no, you didn't put your hands on them did you?" Yoruichi shrugged coyly. "Not thinking of replacing me already are you? I doubt they could match my stamina."

"That might be so but it doesn't hurt to try." Yoruichi rolled her eyes at the blond's pout, "idiot. I'd never replace you, I'd just give you some assistance." She ran her fingers through blond hair. "You tend to pass out after a couple dozen rounds."

"Yeah, well not everyone can sit down and play shogi with you for hours at a time."

Yoruichi sighed, "so true."

—

After narrowly escaping Yoruichi, Ichigo and Uryū entered the living room and spotted Tatsuki playing cards with Nelliel, Yachiru, and one of Aizen's assistants Tier while Hinamori sat in an arm chair two tables away writing something in a notebook. Ichigo had met Tier yesterday when he literally bumped into her breaking a box of beakers that fortunately were to be deposited in the trash anyway. "I'm guessing pink and blue-green come in a pair?"

Ichigo shrugged. "I've yet to see one without the other, but my sisters are twins and even they get sick of being around one another all the time."

"Everyone is different I suppose, I often wonder why or how we haven't killed one another yet being friends for twelve whole exasperating years."

"Yeah, yeah. I love you too Uryū." The bespectacled black-haired teen shook his head. "I still have two hours of work today, I'll ask Tier-san what's what."

"Question, how many people relay messages to you from Aizen-san?"

"Uh...I guess its just his assistants: Tier-san, Ulquiorra, and Szayel... oh and there's Tatsuki-san too; I guess Hinamori counts too."

"If he has four assistants, what's the point of having you here?"

"You see, I'm primarily here to watch the girls, but all in all I'm nothing more than a glorified errand boy. Furthermore, all of his 'assistants' are also his imperfect experiments."

"Imperfect?"

"His words, not mine. He said they all go a little out of whack infrequently, except for Ulquiorra."

"I see."

"Kurosaki-san." Tier bowed at him and Uryū who bowed back. "We have a potential employer stopping by at seven, will you be free?"

Ichigo and Uryū exchanged glances before looking back at the blond. Tatsuki approached the group with Nelliel and Yachiru perched on each shoulder. "They must be confused because Ishida-kun is also seeking employment, right now in fact."

"Ah, I see." The blond nodded, "Aizen-sama needs you to conduct the interview."

"At seven?" Now that his sisters, and by extension his father, knew where he was and who he was working for – sort of – it didn't matter working for another two hours or so today. His hours weren't set in stone anyway. "That's fine."

"Good. As for right now you can just take a break. I know personally that the cages can be hell."

—

It was seven o'clock and the doorbell rung. As usual, Tatsuki got it and escorted the guest to the same room Ichigo had received his interview in. He hadn't seen or heard from Aizen since he spoke to him about Uryu's employment which seemed to be golden as the bespectacled teen was still standing. Though he was considerably jumpy due to getting sexually harassed by Yoruichi twice in the span of four hours.

After their break they proceeded to complete several meaningless tasks that took up the rest of the work day. Another break ensued and now was time for the interview.

The double doors opened and Tatsuki walked in. "May I present to you Inoue Orihime." She stepped to the left allowing the burnt-orange haired girl to walk in Ichigo and Uryū's line of sight.

"Ah!" The three teens said pointing at one another.

"What are you doing here Inoue?"

"T-That's my question! My job keeps getting weird packages addressed to this place so my boss told me to check it out. Apparently my boss spoke to some Aizen-san and now they want me to be the one to deliver all the packages here. But enough about me, what about you two?"

"I found Aizen-san's wallet and returned it to him and ...here I am."

"I don't have an interesting story or anything. I found out about Ichigo's job and wanted to get one too."

"I see."

"Well, now that everyone is acquainted does she have the job or do we get someone else?"

"What? Oh, no she's fine."

"Great." Tatsuki grabbed the burnt-orange haired girl by the arm. "Lets introduce you to Aizen-san."

—

"Glad to have you aboard Inoue-san." Aizen shook her hand, "and I suppose it is good that you already know Kurosaki-kun and Ishida-kun."

They both glanced at the two teens chatting with Tatsuki. "Oh! I suppose you'll need a key in case no one is home."

Tatsuki walked over to the duo, "so...?"

"Good, you stay here Tatsuki. I need to get a key for Inoue-san and Ishida-kun." Aizen walked off and Tatsuki turned to Orihime.

"All systems are go Tatsuki-chan."

"That's great Orihime-chan, you know I've never talked to a girl that was actually younger than me."

"Huh? What about Nelliel-chan and Yachiru-chan?"

"Oh them? They may not look it but they're both older than I am." Tatsuki looked around before looking back at Orihime. "I'm sure Aizen-san told you about the ...things that go on here, right?" Orihime nodded. "Okay then, I may not look it but I'm already seventeen... and that's in human years."

"So you're full-blood human with just some altering?" Tatsuki nodded. "That's so cool! Are you like an android or something?"

"No! Its nothing like that—"

"Do you have mutant powers? Or x-ray vision? Super sonic hearing? An—"

Tatsuki covered her mouth. "I just have superhuman strength and powers of adaptability, nothing fancy."

The black-haired teen slowly released her mouth. "Adaptability? Is that even a power?"

"Its more internal, like I don't get cold or hot... things like that."

"That's even cooler than mutant powers!"

Tatsuki scratched the back of her neck sheepishly. "You are way too easy to amuse Orihime-chan."

"That's what all my friends tell me in school. Oh! You're seventeen, why aren't you in school?"

Tatsuki titled her head to the right, "school? What's that?"

Orihime gasped. " You've never heard of school?" Tatsuki shook her head. "Oh man, you don't know what you're missing!"

Aizen returned with two sets of house keys. "Aizen-san, you've never put Tatsuki in school?" The bespectacled man seemed taken aback at the sudden outburst but Orihime kept on babbling. "Now that I think about it, there isn't a school miles near here!"

"Hmm... Ishida-kun." The bespectacled teen hesitantly walked over to Aizen and Ichigo followed suit. "Inoue-san brings up an interesting idea, would you and Kurosaki-kun be interesting in teaching some of the younger housemates?"

Ichigo's eyebrows furrowed and Uryū's eyes widened. "T-Teach?" They squeaked out.

"Ooh! I'll help too Aizen-san!"

"Then its settled."

"B-But—"

"How about you start your first lesson on Sunday?"

"That's two days away!"

"Too short notice? Perhaps Wednesday? That gives you five whole days."

"How often will we be teaching?" Uryū asked, even though he still wasn't sure about this whole thing... especially if he had to teach that crazy, groping, oversexed catgirl!

"Once a week, I'd hate to overload their brains. On second thought, once every two weeks would be better. There are lots of other things that need to be done that are more important. I realize nothing is more important than learning but they can learn in other ways than just reading."

"So they're autodidacts?"

Aizen nodded. "Precisely. Now, Tatsuki-chan would you kindly take Inoue-san home?"

The black-haired girl saluted then wordlessly led Orihime out. "Bye see you guys later!" She called as Tatsuki dragged her out of the room.

"She certainly is a lively young lady, isn't she?" Ichigo and Uryū nodded slowly.

—

As Uryū was now an official employee he and Ichigo headed to the Hueco Mundo district after supplemental lessons the next day, only Uryū had opened the door this time with an odd sense of satisfaction but the black-haired teen himself was odd so Ichigo didn't bother questioning anything.

Like some sort of arrival ritual, Yachiru and Nelliel glomped onto Ichigo climbing the redhead like he was some sort of human tree reaching his shoulders. "Oh! You're back..." Yachiru tapped her chin, "our other aniki needs a name Nel."

"We don't know his real name Chiru."

The girls looked at Uryū expectantly. "Oh... I'm Ishida Uryū."

"Then its Ur-chin." Uryū facepalmed as the girls nodded in agreement.

"That sounds too much like _urchin – _you know like the sea urchin, can't you think of a different name?" Both girls frowned staring at Ichigo.

"I got it!" They announced simultaneously. "Ryū-chin!" Uryū sighed then Yachiru hopped from Ichigo's shoulder to Uryu's back. "Now lets go see what Aizen-san wants to do today!"

The bespectacled brunet stared at the sight in front of him in awe. Not only had Yachiru and Nelliel gotten attached to Ichigo but they also had gotten attached to his friend. The girls didn't even bother being near any of the other countless employees he had hired before hand but these two were naturals, and from what he heard from Suì-Fēng yesterday they weren't the only ones enjoying his new employees.

"I noticed how clean most of the cages were yesterday and I thank you for that. I was wondering if you would be able to do the same to the second basement? This is a one person job so while one of you is cleaning the second basement the other can clean the attic."

"Uh... are any of those near that catgirl?"

Aizen scratched his left cheek. Yoruichi was one persistent feline, even one flight of stairs wouldn't be able to stop her. "I'll put you in the attic Ishida-kun." The bespectacled teen sighed in relief. "Now Kurosaki-kun you'll have the second basement, which is the floor above the cages..." Now Ichigo sighed in relief. "But I should warn both of you none of the inhabitants of the cages are locked up right now. As you know with most animals being cooped up in one place for too long makes them ...antsy." Uryū paled. "But not to worry Ishida-kun, Yoruichi is forbidden to be in the attic."

Sighing once more in relief, Uryū headed toward the attic with Yachiru still on his back.


End file.
